India excel at the death to leave Pakistan on the brink | The Cricketer

JAMES COYNE IN NEW YORK: An inspired bowling display led by Jasprit Bumrah takes the 2007 champions to victory and leaves their great rivals in dire straits

New York: India 119, Pakistan 113-7- India won by six runs

India extended their dominance over Pakistan in World Cups with a tense six-run victory in a low-scoring encounter in New York.

In front of a capacity 34,028 fans at the pop-up stadium in Eisenhower Park, Long Island, India took their record in T20 World Cups to 7-1 in their favour, in addition to 8-0 in ODI World Cups.

It was Jasprit Bumrah who once again came up trumps, taking the key wicket of Mohammad Rizwan for 31 when Pakistan needed 40 off 36 balls on a difficult pitch, and taking 3 for 14 overall.

Pakistan made one change, restoring spinner Imad Wasim to the side after his rib injury, and dropping the under-fire Azam Khan, meaning Rizwan kept wicket. India were unchanged from their win over Ireland.

Related: How India v Pakistan in New York sparked Indian cricket’s “gravest crisis”

^{Pakistan dominated the first half of the game, restricting India to 119 (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)}

Two showers delayed the start until 11.20am local time. Rain then stopped play again after one over, but no overs were lost.

India lost their vaunted openers Virat Kohli (4) and Rohit Sharma (13) cheaply, but Risbabh Pant’s unique methods in his 40 – helped by several drops or near misses – kept the scoring rate up.

However, India’s innings began to decline with the departure of Suryakumar Yadav at 89 for 4 in the 12th over, after which they lost four wickets for seven runs.

Mohammad Amir and Haris Rauf took advantage of the variable bounce and India had to readjust their expectations to make 119 all out.

Pakistan’s traditional opening pair adopted a steady approach to the run-chase, but after India’s star man Bumrah removed Babar Azam at 26 for 1, it left Pakistan scrapping.

Rizwan gambled on playing the anchor role, going at less than a run a ball throughout his innings.

Shivam Dube (8) dropped a simple chance at fine leg off him. But no Pakistan batter could get in alongside Rizwan to fully settle their nerves, and once he departed the asking rate spiralled to 10 an over.

India closed in on another victory to satisfy a heavily pro-India crowd in New York.

Pakistan, meanwhile, are still on zero points and needing the USA to do them a favour against Ireland in Florida to keep them in the hunt for the next stage.

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